How can I do this with automator, shouldent be to hard right?

Question

I am not new to the programming world but new to apple, however, i wanted to know if this was possible or not ;
Id like to run a script that will ultimatly do this
1)Run Safari
2) Open brokerage website
3) Log In (using key chain or by apple script inputing the user name and password or asking me for dialog box
4)click a certain link somewhere on the page that will pop up the streaming quotes section
5) minimize all safari windows expect the one that is streaming the quotes
6) keep clicking a link that refreshes every half hour the account page so it dosent log me out
should be doable right? Any tips for a first time user for apple script? I read some of what it can do and how its done, (iv programmed with C++ and visual basic) and apple script seems to be really simple, however I dont want to under or over estimate its abbilites.
Any input MUCH appricated.

Answer 1

m_oody,
Good, and I can see that we are thinking along the same lines with regards to other applications for it.
I am a little confused as to why you had to comment out the "on run". I set this script up so that you can already run it as an AppleScript or an Automator action. The "on run" and "end run" pairing are assumed in simple AppleScripts that only have a single routine but, in my opinion, should really be included for good programming style.
Run as AppleScript
Compile, save and run as it is without commenting out anything. You can add further calls to activities, like you mentioned, in the main "on run" routine, and the required GUI commands with other subroutines.
Within the main "on run" routine is where you could call subroutines that would open up other windows or tabs with other sites using Safari, other browsers, and other net applications such as RSS readers, Internet radio, etc.
Run as Automator action
You are right that there are currently a limited selection of actions available with which to build a workflow. However, Apple did leave enough flexibility through actions with calls to AppleScript ("Run AppleScript"), a Unix Shell script ("Run Shell Script"), run other Automator workflows ("Run Workflow")and, Web Services ("Run Web Service") to provide extensibility to the application. Of course there is also a tremendous flexibility within Unix itself with all the scripting and full programming languages that can be run through the Shell.
Long winded today!
Here is what needs to be done to run this as an Automator action.
1) Open Automator and look for an action called "Run AppleScript" which is within the "Automator" category of actions.
2) Drag it over to the workflow assembly line. You will notice it contains the core of an AppleScript main routine.
3) Normally when you are building these routines you build them within this environment and test them there and only replace the text labelled "(* Your script goes here *)". However, in our case it was build in the AppleScript Script Editor environment and because the Properties section must go at the top we need to modify its structure for it to run properly and fit into a workflow that consists of more than this one action. So here is what you need to do:
a) Go to Script Editor and either delete the line entirely or comment out the line by putting the "--" characters in front of the "on run {}" line. I usually just comment the line out so that if I need to work with it in AppleScript again it is easy to do.
b) Remove the comment characters from "on run {input,parameters}" and "return input". These lines are required to accept and pass on info within the workflow.
c) Select all of the text in the script and copy it to the clipboard.
d) Move over to Automator, select all of the text in the "Run AppleScript" action, and paste in the new script.
It should now compile if you press the hammer icon and run if you press either the green arrow icon on the action or the overall workflow run icon.
You now have the option of saving it as:
1) Basic Workflow, requiring Automator to be running
2) Application, free of Automator running
3) Various plug-ins including one for iCal alarms which you could use for your automated morning download. Search for plug-ins in the Help of Automator for more information.
Once it is saved as an alarm you just need to set up a schedule for running it in iCal, attach the alarm by using the "Open File" alarm, and watch the action.
The AppleScript can also be run with an alarm in iCal. In that case you attach the alarm using the "Run Script" alarm.
PowerBook 12" Mac OS X (10.4.6)